Posted on 03/22/2011 11:21:54 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Qatar fighter jets land at Greek base - source
12:53pm EDT
ATHENS (Reuters) - Two Qatari fighter jets and two C-17 transport aircraft expected to participate in the no-fly zone over Libya landed in Crete on Tuesday, a Greek defense ministry official said.
U.S. Admiral Samuel Locklear told reporters in Washington that Qatari aircraft would be "up and flying" by the weekend.
European and U.S. forces have sent warplanes against Libyan targets under a U.N. Security Council resolution and Western officials have said that Qatari aircraft would join the operation enforcing a no-fly zone.
"Two Mirage fighter jets and two C-17 transport aircraft from Qatar have landed at the military base in Souda," the defense ministry official said.
Four other Qatari Mirage were expected at Souda but it was not clear when they would arrive, the official said.
The United Arab Emirates have also requested refueling at Souda base for 12 F-16 jets and 12 Mirage jets on their way to Sicily, the official said, adding that none has arrived yet.
Cyprus, which hosts two British bases, has said it does not want any involvement in military operations over Libya.
President Demetris Christofias said on Sunday that his government opposed any use of the British
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Qatar has jets?
Qatar has very nice jets.
Holy Cow, they landed.
Pakistani pilots?
You can thank the French for thw Qatar Mirages.
Interesting. Now I have to wonder which side Greece is falling to. I thought with their recent elections they were leaning strongly Muslim/anti-western.
Qatar has jets?
The Mirage 2000 is a very, very nice interceptor, very comprable to the F-16Is I flew, air-to-air. The sustained turning rate on the Mirage is a bit slower, but it is (at least initially) faster.
Head-to-head, it would depend on the pilot and the weapons and senor platform -— both of which Israel has and had a considerable edge.
Regarding the topic at hand, Lybia:
The Mirage 2000 has crappy fuel capacity and crappy ordinance ability. Or rather, it can carry that stuff, but becomes a flying brick that I could take out with a Purim-sized hang over.
So, don’t expect much from the 2000s.
The 2000 has good ordnance capacity at round about 6-6.5 tonnes, though its strike capabilities are more limited design-wise compared to the F-16. I think the main issue with regard to the Qatari deployment is that with no aerial refuelling capacity, their jets won’t be of any use. That’s hardly the aircraft’s fault.
Can’t be sure about that. I’m sure there’s a domestic corp of pilots. As it is, these guys are unlikely to do anything beyond approaching Libyan airspace for both political and operational reasons. It’s a rather pathetic display happening with regard to the Arab participation.
“The 2000 has good ordnance capacity at round about 6-6.5 tonnes, though its strike capabilities are more limited design-wise compared to the F-16. I think the main issue with regard to the Qatari deployment is that with no aerial refuelling capacity, their jets won’t be of any use. That’s hardly the aircraft’s fault.”
I don’t disagree with anyting you said.
I would say that, when equiped for surface-to-air attack, the 2000 becomes a dog air-to-air.
That is a key distinction with the 16, which retains most of its air-to-air ability when equiped for ground attack, or even with the conformal tanks.
Well, I was “kinda” joking, but IIRC, Pakistani pilots were seconded to various Arab Air Forces - Jordan, Syria in one or more of their dustups with Israel.
Hey, pathetic, well that’s on par with the Euros including the intrepid Britishers in terms of the forces they are applying.
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